Gen Singh should be sent on forced leave: Ex-NSA

File-photo-of-Army-chief-Gen-VK-Singh-at-Rajghat-in-Delhi-AFP

Former National Security Advisor (NSA) Brajesh Mishra on Sunday attacked army chief General VK Singh saying he has lost his “mental balance” and should be sent on “forced leave”, but should not be sacked.

“If he (General Singh) is sacked, then something more may happen. If he is sent on compulsory leave, he is not being sacked. He should be told that enjoy your two months vacation with government salary and then take pension and go home,” Mishra said.

“In all this episode, he (General Singh) has lost his mental balance,” Mishra said on CNN-IBN’s Devil’s Advocate programme, telecast on Sunday night.

Asked about the allegations that the army chief was offered R14-crore bribe for clearing a contract for purchase of trucks and he had informed defence minister AK Antony about the incident, Mishra replied :“My view is that both the minister (AK Antony) and the Army chief are responsible for not taking action.”

Mishra, who was the NSA during BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, blamed close associates of General VK Singh for the leak of letter written by him to the Prime Minister.

“The PM—whom I respect so much—is not the man who is going to leak something like that. I cannot accept that any bureaucrat in the Prime Minister’s residence could have given it out. So if the General himself did not leak the letter, some of his friends might have done it,” he said.

On the Army chief’s recommendation for a CBI probe against 3 Corps commander Lt Gen Dalbir Suhag, Mishra said the army chief was “not authorised” to do so.

“The person who is authorised to do it is the defence secretary. So the proper procedure was to send a letter to the defence secretary or refer the file to the defence ministry and leave it for them to decide,” he said.